Wearing my shoes

There she goes again.

Running ahead of me, little arms waving, jacket tails flapping.

Never looking back. The independent one. Always on the go.

Running up the steps because they are there.

She’s always one step ahead of me. Like a little ninja child. Trying until she succeeds, doing what she came to do (then scaring the living daylights out of me).Yesterday, I was busy unpacking boxes in my room. She was busy too. Trying on my shoes. At least she was staying out of trouble, right?

“These are church shoes, Mom. I’m going to church.”

This is the girl who has an imaginary green friend. So, for a moment, I join her world of pretend. “Okay, I’ll see you after the service!”

With a flip of her hair, she turns and tromps down the hallway.

I’m happy she’s found something to do (dare I admit) without me. And for a few golden moments, I enjoy the (a little too quiet) silence. Then I hear a click. Like the latch of a screen door as it closes. I’m a little slow, so it takes me a moment to make the connection. She didn’t really mean she was going to walkto church, did she??

There IS a church at the end of our little cul de sac. In fact, it’s where we’ve attended the past two Sunday mornings. And she LOVES her class. Asks every morning if it’s “church day.” This is a big deal since she pretty much spent the last year of Sunday mornings screaming every time we tried to drop her off. This child is so much like me. Before our big move, we talked about how cool it would be if we could find a church close to home so we didn’t have to drive twenty minutes each way. Think of all the gas money we could save! And yet, I am surprised (because I don’t remember actually praying about it) that God has given me what I wished for.

His little girl. Never looking back. The independent one. Always on the go. Flipping my hair as I turn and tromp away.

It takes about a minute to walk from our front door to the church. Less if you run… Not that I would know because I was putting our lunch stew in the pot on the stove at the last minute and was late to church.

I frantically search the house just to be sure. She’s gone. Now I’m running…slamming the front door behind me.

The sidewalk is empty in front of our home.

Then I see her. Just past the curve, behind those shrubs on the other side of the street.

Walking back home. Face fallen. Because nobody was there.

Lessons learned:

1. God knows me pretty well and I can trust His plans for me. He will take care of everything I need and even give what I didn’t think to ask for, so stop trying to do things on my own. Also, He’s pretty good at keeping stubborn persistent preschoolers safe when they do things they shouldn’t.

2. Look into getting a door alarm. Or a velcro wall. Or a latch on all exterior doors where they can’t be found by little fingers.

3. Little girls need lots of hugs. Big girls don’t mind them either 🙂

Our fun-loving 3yr. old hugging a statue. She also kissed it. On the lips.